A man charged with murder in connection with the death of a toddler is blaming the child's mother, in a move that prosecutors have called character assassination.

Tyler Witham-Jordan, 30, was in Lincoln County Superior Court on Tuesday for a daylong hearing regarding several requests for evidence at his trial in December.

Witham-Jordan is facing one count of depraved indifference murder in connection with the death of 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan in December 2022. He has pleaded not guilty.

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His lawyers asked a judge to limit testimony from certain witnesses, and to throw out allegations of previous wrongdoing against Witham-Jordan.

Superior Justice Daniel Billings did not grant much of what the defense asked for, but he did use their requests to urge prosecutors to use caution when introducing certain information to the jury.

Billings denied a request that he review and consider sharing the mental health records for Faith Lewis, Makinzlee's mother.

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Witham-Jordan's lawyers said they believe Lewis was responsible for Makinzlee's death.

Witham-Jordan was living with Lewis and four children in their Edgecomb home when the couple called 911 and reported that Makinzlee was unresponsive early on Christmas morning in 2022. When first responders arrived, they found the child stiff, cold to the touch and so bruised that one EMT said she looked like a "Dalmatian," a police affidavit states.

Attorney James Howaniec said Lewis' statements to police were inconsistent, and that investigators were skeptical of her early in the investigation. He noted that a couple months before the murder, her home had been investigated by the state Department of Health and Human Services following allegations of child abuse.

Howaniec questioned whether a psychiatric evaluation Lewis sought around the same time was related.

"Ms. Lewis is clearly an alternate suspect in this case," Howaniec said. "We believe Ms. Lewis perpetrated this homicide."

Lewis' lawyer Richard Elliot disputed this. He said his client, who was in the courtroom Tuesday morning with others, was there as a victim and not a suspect.

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Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman said in court that Witham-Jordan is the state's only suspect.

"It is Tyler Witham-Jordan that is solely responsible for the death of Makinzlee Handrahan," she said. "This attempt is merely an attempt to slander her and attack her during trial."

THE DNA

The state is arguing that Witham-Jordan, while experiencing opioid withdrawal and resentment against Lewis' children, beat Makinzlee to death at some point between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Police found Witham-Jordan's DNA on a broken hairbrush, in which a large clump of Makinzlee's hair was stuck in the bristles. They also found his DNA inside the upper waistband of her diaper and under her fingernails, suggesting she had struggled against him.

Lewis' DNA was excluded from these items, but a DNA expert for the defense pointed out that doesn't mean she never used the brush.

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Richard Staub, a forensic genetics consultant in Texas, testified Tuesday that people leave different amounts of DNA on objects. Staub also said it's impossible to know when Witham-Jordan's DNA was deposited on the items, and if it was even the night of Makinzlee's slaying.

The fact that Witham-Jordan lived there and regularly brushed Makinzlee's hair, the defense said, meant his DNA could have ended up on the brush "in an innocent manner."

But none of Staub's observations ruled out the state's homicide theory, Ackerman said.

BAD HISTORY

Police interviewed multiple people, including Lewis' friends and family, neighbors and Witham-Jordan's coworkers. In court records, these witnesses described him as aggressive, confrontational and controlling of Lewis.

Lewis filed for a protection from abuse order against Witham-Jordan shortly after the slaying, saying she was afraid for her and her children's safety. But she withdrew that complaint a couple weeks later.

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Witham-Jordan's lawyers said the protection order never mentioned Makinzlee or allegations that Witham-Jordan had harmed her.

"These are examples of Tyler's anger, or his demonstration of anger, toward others," said his lawyer Daniel Dubé. "... It's not a demonstration of any anger toward Makinzlee."

Maine courts have been cautious with allowing prosecutors to share prior bad acts with a jury, particularly a defendant's criminal history.

But Ackerman said these statements were valuable because Witham-Jordan's "anger toward Ms. Lewis, how he treated her, is relevant to his state of mind" leading up to the child's death.

Billings said he was "very skeptical of this kind of evidence" generally and would only allow historical evidence of Witham-Jordan's behavior with Makinzlee, but not Lewis.

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filed under: child abuse, edgecomb maine, homicide

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